Administered by the Nicholas Institute, the University-Wide Collaboration Grants on Climate Change were the first in a series of opportunities for Duke scholars to help shape the Climate Commitment’s research pillar. Offered in 2022, the program supported faculty and research staff who sought to convene new collaborative research teams around climate-related challenges. To be eligible, teams of at least three Duke-affiliated researchers were asked to organize around a specific disciplinary, interdisciplinary, or multidisciplinary theme of climate change, broadly construed. $40,000 in equal-sized grants was awarded to eight teams. The winning teams reflected the applicant pool’s disciplinary diversity, bringing together fifty-two researchers, including graduate students, with five researchers serving on two or more teams. Of the participants based within Trinity College, six hailed from History, three from Philosophy, and two from Biology. In addition, the disciplines of African & African-American Studies, Cultural Anthropology, Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies, and English were also represented.
The program’s performance period ended at the close of the last fiscal year with six teams having achieved their primary objectives and two granted extensions for satisfactory progress. For example, in December 2022 a team led by Mark E. Borsuk, the James L. and Elizabeth M. Vincent Associate Professor in the Pratt School of Engineering, organized an interdisciplinary workshop exploring questions of planetary engineering, the large-scale modification of Earth’s environment and geography. More recently, in May 2023, a team led by Avner Vengosh, Distinguished Professor and Nicholas Chair of Environmental Quality, conducted fieldwork in Bolivia’s Salar de Unuyi, the world’s largest salt flat and a trove of battery metal lithium. Learn more about the funded projects.